


A bird in a cage

by Sammys_Girl



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Domestic Violence, Eventual Happy Ending, F/M, Kagome OOC, dark!fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-24
Updated: 2018-07-02
Packaged: 2019-05-27 22:25:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 11
Words: 18,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15034610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sammys_Girl/pseuds/Sammys_Girl
Summary: When Sesshoumaru bumps into a young woman on his way to work, he can't stop thinking about her. He keeps running into her but something about her is off, something, that she is not telling anyone.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own any of the characters of Inuyasha, bla bla you know the drill :)  
> This fic is inspired by a book I've recently finished and I thought it would apply beautifully to a dramatic SessxKag story.  
> English is not my first language so if I get the grammar mixed up I'm terribly sorry. Feel free to correct in the comments!
> 
> Disclaimer: This story contains mentions of rape and domestic violence. If you are experiencing or have experienced a similar situation, this story might not be for you. If you can't help yourself , please get help from somewhere! You are not alone and you are valid.
> 
> Now on to the story! Enjoy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should be writing a paper for uni but who gets anything done on a sunday anyways? So instead I'm writing this...

He could feel that there was more than meets the eye the first time he saw her. It was a rainy monday morning and he bumped into her on his way to the elevator. She apologised immediately even though it had been him who had caused the collision. She didn’t look him in the eyes but he could see the apprehension in her eyes, as though she was waiting for him to yell at her but before he could do so much as draw a breath she was gone. All that remained was a slight hint of laundry detergent and her own flowery scent mixed with a trace of sour fear.  
“Good morning, sir.”, said his secretary while scurrying behind him ready to load his day with paperwork. “Awful weather, isn’t it? A true monday. How was your morning?”. “Actually, I -”, but he never finished that sentence about the awful traffic and the woman he had ran into by the elevator because a piercing scream and a loud thud interrupted him. “What the actual -”, his secretary muttered under his breath as they both hastened over to the office from which the sounds had come from. A woman dressed in a red pencil skirt and white blouse, that looked a little disarranged, stormed out of room 102, obviously upset as she ran past them and along the hallway in the direction of the women’s bathrooms. Mary, that was her name, he suddenly remembered. A nice young lady his former head of sales had hired straight out of college to assist him with the paperwork. Harold had left but Mary had stayed. She was hard-working and a smart girl and he liked the idea of having someone trustworthy to get the new guy worked in quickly.  
“What was that?”, he said more to himself than to anyone in particular but he got his answer as he looked through the door of room 102, the office of the new guy. ‘What was his name again?’, he thought. What used to be one of the expensive new computers the company had bought three months ago was now a clump of cracked screen and wire on the floor, coffee dripping from the wall onto the carpet. “I told you a thousand times that I hate those gay ass vanilla creamers!!! Why am I surrounded by people that are too stupid to fetch me a decent coffee?!”, he screamed, the coffee-to-go cup still in his hand. “My office, now.”, he said calmly. He had just recently transferred from the Tokyo office and wasn’t very well known yet but every human with an instinct of self preservation recognised his tone as barely contained rage. 

What followed was a nasty one hour talk where he could, unfortunately, do nothing more than scold him like a school boy and deduct the costs for the computer and carpet cleaning from his salary while Mr. temper tantrum just sat there and grinned like a school boy who managed to pull a big prank on his class teacher and knew he would get away with it because his daddy was friends with important people. He almost laughed at the comparison because it was so true. That asshole had been made new head of sales because his father owned the mother company. Truth be told, he was good at his job but it was also an open secret that he was a choleric asshole. He was neither head of personnel nor the other son of the big boss so he couldn’t fire him and Mary refused to speak about what had happened exactly before the bang. Nevertheless, he secretly wished to grab him by the throat and give his ribs a few short but powerful punches but not even a growl escaped him. 

\-----

It was lunchtime by the time he had managed to concentrate for the first time that day but a knock on his door ripped him out of the contract he was checking for traps. “What is it?”, he barked briskly. “I - I’m s-s-s-s-orry,”, a small voice said from the door and he looked up to see the black haired woman from this morning. “I just wanted to -”, but she never finished the sentence as she seemed to realise that she had walked into the wrong office. Her eyes widened in terror and she quickly shut the door. He was too surprised to react so he turned his gaze back to his desk, wondering why he was suddenly craving lasagna.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, this one is a little longer and we're going back in time a little...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still don't own Inuyasha, shame...

She had been a bright, happy child with a lot of dreams. That child had turned into a rebellious teenager that had a strong mind of her own and even though she and her mother loved each other, they yelled nasty things at each other when she had not been home on time or had forgotten to do the shopping. Every time after a fight they would cry and apologise and as time went by, that teenager turned into an ambitious and thriving young woman that went to university and when she had completed a semester abroad in the US she had only returned home over the summer and had told her mother that she got offered a scholarship and was permanently moving to the US. From then on she had called her mother regularly to tell her about all the adventures she had been on and her plans for her future.  
Her mother knew that her daughter would never come back to Japan. She was happy that she was living her life, fulfilling her dreams and even though she kept telling her mother she would come home as soon as she got her certificate, she knew that her daughter would get a good job and stay forever.  
Her mother had only been half right. She did call to tell her that she would not come back to Japan but it was in her final year of college when she announced that her boyfriend of one and a half years had proposed to her.  
“What about that internship you told me about?”, her mother had asked but she had only rolled her eyes and told her mother that she was marrying, not going to prison. Her mother had never met that boyfriend but her daughter seemed very happy with him and she had told her that he was half Japanese, so he would be a part of her home. She hadn’t objected and hoped that her daughter was making the right decisions, as it had never worked to talk her out of something.  
As it turned out though, she found herself in a situation where prison would be a considerable alternative, only four years after the wedding. 

Four years ago  
"I, Kagome Higurashi, take thee, Steve Ryo , to be my wedded husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I pledge thee my faith."

"I, Steve Ryo, take thee, Kagome Higurashi, to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I pledge thee my faith."

He looked so happy that day. His warm eyes had looked into hers as he said his vows and she felt like princess in her white gown as he lifted her veil and inclined his head to kiss her.  
Three days later they had packed their bags and were on their way to the honeymoon when only an hour in the car gave out. She didn’t know anything about cars so she asked what was wrong. “How I would I know?!”, he yelled at her. “Do I look like a fucking mechanic to you?!”. She said nothing after that. Not as she got hungry, not as she got cold. But as the hours crept by and he had not managed to do anything but to scream into the hood of the car and kick the tires, she felt a pressing matter, that did not allow any more waiting. So she dared to get out of the car and approach him from behind. “Um, honey?”. Nothing. “Honey, I need to-” BAM! The back of his hand met her cheek with such a force that she had to take a few steps back. Slowly, she rose a hand to her burning cheek, her eyes wide with terror.  
“Oh babe”, he said. “I am so sorry, I didn’t hear you coming. You surprised me. You know that I would never hurt you, right? Right?”. Of course she knew that he would never hurt her. She apologised for surprising him and he called a towing company and pressed a water bottle against her cheek. The rest of their honeymoon had been great. They had spent their days exploring the city and their evenings trying food that they hadn’t eaten before or ordering room service. 

She never thought back to that day but a year later when she walked downstairs to talk to him about her job, she couldn’t help herself but to touch her cheek as the memory of the burning sting returned. “Hey, Honey. Did you have a good day at work?”, she asked. He had only grunted a response and sat down in front the TV. “Um, I was thinking-”, she began her well rehearsed speech but he interrupted her. “Well that’s something new.” and he laughed about his own joke. As he realized that she hadn’t been laughing he stilled. “So? What is it?” he asked, obviously annoyed. “I talked to Damian today and he said that marketing needs a new graphic designer because they are redoing the website and they would even pay me more.” “And you are telling me this because?”. She had been disappointed. It was good news and he didn’t seem happy about it but she continued nevertheless. “I am telling you this because Gina from accounting said that I would need a bank account in my name because I would have an actual job and not just be the intern anymore.” “And did you tell Gina”, he almost spat out her name, “that I am the one that manages the money in this household? I am the one paying the bills after all. You don’t really need that job anyways, do you? It is just for fun, right? So go and tell Gina, that if she’s not able to pay you the way she does it now then she can shove that money up her ass.”  
“Yeah, I guess.”, she said. In reality, she really liked her job. Her colleagues were nice and she had a talent for graphic design. She had been so happy when Damian had approached her about the new position but she knew better than to argue with Steve. 

The next day she told Damian that she couldn’t take the job. He looked at her, a million questions in his eyes and when his gaze shifted to her arms she quickly pulled her sleeve over that dark blue bruise that sat there and turned around. When her boss called her in his office later that day he asked her again if she was sure about declining that job offer. She confirmed that and when he answered that he would have to let her go because new interns would come the following week she just nodded and went upstairs to pack her things.  
She always thought she would have a big career and hold important meetings with influential people but when she came home that day with the box that held her working life she realised that that had been only one of her stupid, unrealistic dreams. 

“What is that box doing in the hallway?”, were the first words out of his mouth when he came home. But she had time to prepare a great dinner and rushed towards the door to help him out of his coat. “That is the stuff from my office. I quit today to have more time with you.”, she chirped, trying really hard to put on a convincing smile. “I made meatloaf for you. Would you like a beer?”. But she hadn’t even turned around towards the kitchen as he put both arms around her and swirled her around. “Really? Oh babe, I am so happy! I love you!” She didn’t believe her ears but when he pressed a passionate kiss to her lips she had felt truly happy. He complimented her cooking and took her on the kitchen counter afterwards, telling her how beautiful she was. 

She snapped out of her daydream when the kitchen timer went off. As she took the lasagna out of the oven she thought about Damian. He was a nice guy and she had tried to hold contact with him but when Steve had found out that she had been out on a drink with him and a few others from her old job… She touched the scar on her temple where the beer bottle had hit her.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We're back from our trip to the past but it's not getting any prettier...

He came home late this night. The incident this morning had cost him precious time and he couldn’t concentrate properly all day so he had to stay way past the others to catch up. He slipped out of his shoes and into the kitchen but the fridge was almost empty so he went with a beer for dinner and turned on the TV for some background noise while he stripped down und took a hot shower. He lay awake in his big bed that night, thinking about the woman he had bumped into this morning. He felt bad about his rudeness when she had walked into his office by accident and he wondered, if he would meet her again tomorrow so he could apologise. He smiled to himself and rolled over, thinking to himself how stupid he was for feeling sorry about something so small. She probably didn’t even remember him anymore. But those sad, terrified eyes...those big brown eyes… That was the last thought that crossed his mind before he fell asleep.

His alarm ripped him out of his sleep and he threw it against the wall where it burst into a thousand pieces. ‘Fuck’, he thought. That was the second alarm he broke this month. Living amongst humans was a real pain but he had seen what had happened to the youkai, that refused to have their powers bound so he obliged. He was still stronger and faster than most humans but compared to the old days he was a weak and pathetic being. He still had his good looks and the markings on his face revealed his true identity. There was a time, when he concealed his markings and turned his silver hair to black but after he had been stripped of the majority of his powers he decided to at least visually remind those humans who he was. He laughed dryly. ‘The great daiyoukai, Lord of the Western Lands, stripped of his powers but still popular with the ladies.’  
Not that it mattered, he was married to his job, had been from day one. There had been the occasional affair, some shorter, some longer but eventually he would wake up alone. He never broke it off, he never cared enough to make that decision and he didn’t want to put up with the crying and the accusations so he sat it out, locked up in his office for days on end until she decided that she had enough. Good looks is not everything after all.

Deep in thought, he hadn’t realised that he had already arrived at his office. Suddenly very aware of his surroundings, he scanned the foyer for the dark haired woman with the big brown eyes. But she wasn’t there and he made his way to the elevator, already thinking about the 9am meeting he was dreading for a week.  
The morning went by without any incidents and when lunchtime rolled around he was lured out of his office by the delicious smell of homemade ramen. He opened the door and there she was again. Her dark hair was pulled up in a ponytail today and she wore a baggy t-shirt dress that did nothing to flatter her obviously thin figure. In her hands was a big bowl and she was talking to Larry from the IT department who always came up here to eat with his wife who worked as his secretary. “Hey Lou”, he said to her. She looked up from her paperwork. “Who is that girl talking with your husband?” But she seemed to have heard him because she quickly set the bowl down on the nearest desk and bowed to him before making her way to the elevators. He could see her Japanese heritage and recognised the gesture for an apology. He wondered, what she felt the need to apologise for and was taking a step towards the elevators as well as his phone started ringing. He sighed and took the call, returning to his office to deal with the mess the Atlanta office had caused, the dark haired woman banned from his mind. 

\----

She knew it had been a mistake to bring Steve his lunch to work. But she had spent a lot of time preparing it and when she had burnt the breakfast and made him leave late for work he had forgotten to take it with him. After she had walked into the wrong office yesterday, she had decided that today she would wait until he came out of his office. A man had asked her who she was looking and they had been chatting for a little when she had noticed a door opening. It was that man. That man with the silver hair she had run into twice yesterday. Panic had overwhelmed her so she had left her husband’s lunch with his secretary and had bowed to this man in apology before quickly making her way back to the car.  
There she was now, hands shaking. The way he had looked at her, his golden eyes searching for hers and she had secretly wished he would talk to her. But then reality had crashed in and she had fled out of the building.  
When Steve came home that night, he was not in a good mood. She didn’t ask why but when she heard him throw something in the sink that sounded a lot like bowl of ramen she had brought him for lunch she knew that this would not be a pleasant evening. “How humiliating”. He didn’t scream but that made it a lot more threatening. “How dare you humiliate me like that in front of my colleagues? Did you think it was good idea to bring me lunch to work? Like a little boy who is not able to get lunch himself?” “I-I thought you had just forgotten to take it with you and that-”. “That I what, hm? Has it ever crossed your mind that I might be tired of your grub? Now go, clean up that mess in the kitchen!”. She didn’t say anything but fought with her tears. She knew how he hated her tears and she quickly turned away to hide her face from him.  
When she had cleaned the kitchen she came back into the living room. She wasn’t sitting down immediately and he shot her an annoyed look. Before he could ask what it was she had already dropped her knees before him, looking up at him with those big brown eyes that he used to love so much. “I’m sorry”, she said. “I wasn’t trying to embarass you. I love you”. She opened the button of his pants and he moved towards her, his free hand in her hair, his eyes still on the TV. He let her try for a few moments but he had had too many beers so he pushed her away and said:” you look filthy. You don’t turn me on anymore.”  
“I’m sorry”, she said, her eyes on the floor. She ran upstairs and into the bathroom, slamming the doors shut and turning the key before she curled up on the rug and let the tears flow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know how you like the story so far :) I have a lot of ideas in what direction this fic might go but I haven't decided which way to go.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still don't own Inuyasha....

On wednesday, he saw her again. She was wearing a short skirt that showed off her long, pale legs but he didn’t get a chance to speak to her as she was already on her way out when he caught a glimpse of her. He could smell perfume on her and something else. Something salty that made him sick but before he could identify it she was already gone, the scent with her.

On thursday around lunch he was on his way to the coffee machine when that asshole walked out of his office apparently in a brilliant mood. “Eh, Sesshoumaru, all good?”, he asked. He was about to put him back in his place for the audacity to call him by his first name when he saw her again. Dressed in a light blue dress she carefully walked out of asshole’s office, as if trying not to be seen.  
He left asshole by the coffee machine and quickly walked towards her, a hand on her shoulder before she could run away yet again.  
“Excuse me?”, he said. “Oh sorry, I was just gonna-”, she started, before she realised who was standing in front of her. She clamped her mouth shut and tried to fix her hair, that was looking as if someone had pulled on her braid. And then it hit him. That smell again.  
That sickening, salty smell, her dishevelled hair together with the bruises on her knees that looked a lot like rug burn. He remembered the smile on asshole’s face and it made him want to throw up. Why would a beautiful, delicate woman do such a disgraceful deed to a man like him?  
He suddenly realised that he was still staring at her so he quickly said:”I just wanted to apologise for Monday. I ran into you and I was very rude when you came into my office. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it.” And he turned away, shutting the door to his office behind him and dropping his lunch in the bin without eating a single bite.  
She stood there, rooted to the spot as she tried to process what had just happened. That handsome man had talked to her, apologised to her for being rude to her. The man she had dreamt about. The man that worked with her husband. She had a feeling that he knew exactly what she had been doing here and she felt a deep crimson blush rise on her cheeks and then quickly made her way home, determined to scrub the bathroom until the shame went away.

\----

He couldn’t concentrate. That self righteous smile on his face would pop into his mind, making him want to vomit in his bin. Then he would think of her eyes, the panic and the shame in those beautiful, big brown eyes. Her messy hair that smelled so wonderfully like flowers and her breath that came in small, hectic puffs, that smelt like...like..him.  
‘That’s it!’, he thought and rose from his desk. He slammed the laptop shut and called his secretary to cancel all of his meetings and to not let any calls through. He was halfway home when he had to stop at a red light and the thought of his cold, empty apartment floated through his mind. No, he couldn’t go home, not yet. He would go mad so instead he turned around, took a left and headed straight to the next bar to slow down his thinking.  
It didn’t work. He tried hard, drank three beers and two whiskeys and was just about to order his next round when his foot slipped from the foot rest of the stool he was sitting on and his knee hit the bar hard. It was then when another realisation hit his mind like a steam train: Her knees weren’t the only bruised parts of her body. Her arms had some as well, as if someone had grabbed her too tightly. And the day she wore that skirt he saw the rim of a yellow bruise on her thigh.  
A blinding rage built in his chest, a white hot burning sensation that made him clench his fists and grind his jaw. ‘The bill!’, he barked to the barkeeper who shot him a warning glance. She was a young girl, maybe 25, with bright blue hair and a pierced nose. “And where do you think you’re going?”, she said. “That’s none of your business!”, he growled and slammed 50 bucks on the bar and made his way to the door. “Whoa there! Slow down! You are way too drunk to drive.” She spoke calmly and deep down he knew that she only meant well. But right now he didn’t want what was best for him. Actually, he didn’t care about himself at this moment so he opened his mouth to give that girl a piece of his mind when he looked her into her face and met her pleading, big brown eyes. The eyes that reminded him of her. His anger evaporated and he let out a deep sigh. “Would you mind calling me a cab?”, he said instead, putting his car keys back into his pocket. 

\----

He woke with a groan and clenched his eyes against the blinding sun that shone through the blinds. His head hurt and he wondered how long it had been since his last hangover. Then he remembered. He remembered why he was stupid enough to try and drown his feelings along with his thoughts. He took an ice cold shower, downed a coffee and forced himself to eat a piece of toast before he grabbed the phone. “Lou.” “Sesshoumaru? Where are you? It’s 7:30 am and I -”. “Lou, calm down. I’m not coming in today but I need you to ask your husband a favour. I need the address of that ass-”, he let out a long breath. “Of Ryo. Can you do that for me?”. “Sure, I just-”. “Please, Lou.” He must have sounded very serious because she hung up and a minute later he had an E-Mail with an address on his phone. ‘Calm and collected’, he thought to himself as he stood in front of his closet, trying to decide whether to wear a suit oder jeans. He went with the suit. Since he couldn’t wear his armour anymore he felt like a suit was what came closest and he had a feeling that he needed some kind of armour. What he needed protection for he wasn’t sure but he had always been ‘well prepared is half a success” type. 

By 8:15 am he sat in his car and was on his way to get two coffees and he arrived at the address Lou had given him by 8:48 am.  
Suddenly, he was very nervous. What if she wasn’t home? What if she didn’t want to talk to him? What did he want to talk about? He didn’t know how to address the matter that robbed him of his sleep. Why did he even care? He didn’t know that woman and it was none of his business what she and his husband did behind closed doors. But then again, she seemed so scared. Scared of something that- He saw a curtain move and a small hand that had pulled it. Every doubt he had ever had went out the window and he stepped out of the car and rang the bell.  
“Yes?”, she opened the door only a slit but he could see that she was still in her pyjamas, a light pink babydoll that complimented her hair colour. That made him lose his train of thought. “Um, I was just… Actually, Mrs. Ryo, -”, he could feel bile rise in his throat and he swallowed quickly. “I was hoping we could have a quick chat about your husband? I brought coffee.” , he said and held up the cups as if to prove that he was telling the truth. She looked unsure. Her eyes darted around as if she was looking for something or someone.  
“Please?”, he said. “Okay, just give me a minute to put something on.” She shut the door and he heard her run up the stairs. She came back a minute later and opened the door wide enough to let him in. “Thank you”, he said, smiling and grateful that she had let him in.  
“So? What did you want to talk about? Is he in trouble?” She was now wearing jeans and a white tank top with an ugly yellow sweater over it that was two sizes too big for her so it kept falling over her right shoulder despite her efforts to keep it up. But she was too slow and he caught a glimpse a greenish bruise that sat below her collarbone.  
“Is your husband beating you?” It came out before he could stop it and he cursed himself for being so stupid. He had spent at least half an hour to prepare a conversation that would eventually lead up to this sensitive topic. But it was too late now and he decided to just go with it now since there was no turning back.  
He could see in her eyes, those big brown eyes, that he had made a big mistake. She stared at him in shock and he could see the coffee cup slip out of her hand. He caught it, before it spill on the carpet and she yanked her hand back as hers touched his as she had tried to the same. “He loves me!”, she said, her voice shrill. “If there is nothing else you wanted to talk about then please leave now.” “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to- Well I guess I did, but not like this so please, Mrs. Ryo, I -” “Kagome.” “What?” “My name is Kagome.” She had her eyes glued to the floor but the fact that she had told him her name encouraged him to keep talking. “Kagome”, he liked how her name felt on his tongue. “I have reason to assume that you are...that you might need help. And I know it’s not easy to ask for help but please know that I am here to do exactly that. Whatever you need.”  
“Leave. My husband loves me, so there is no need for you to worry.” That was all she said before he stood up and walked up the stairs, leaving him behind. It took him a second to process what she had said. He jumped off the couch and was halfway up the stairs when he realised what he was about to do. He couldn’t just follow that woman to her bedroom. He had to leave. He was technically trespassing and as much as it hurt him, he couldn’t help her as long as she didn’t accept the help.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TW: this chapter contains graphic depictions of rape. I added this chapter for story purposes but if you don't want to read it you can skip this chapter and continue with the next one.

She had scrubbed the whole house by the time Steve came home. She had even made meatloaf, it was his favourite dish and she felt like she could need all the help she could get since she was feeling so guilty about talking with Steve’s boss and she had a feeling that he could read it in her eyes.  
She was loading his plate and tried to chat about something unimportant: the weather, the good deal she had gotten at the shops, when she felt his hand wander under her skirt and squeeze her butt. She made a step to the side and avoided his gaze. “Beer?”, she asked quickly and restrained herself from running into the kitchen.  
She made it back to the dinner table and through the meatloaf without any incidents. As she put the last fork of meatloaf in her mouth he suddenly said:” My boss wasn’t at work today.” She almost choked. “I’m sorry?”, she said, swallowing her mouthful quickly before she could accidentally spit it over the table.  
“I said, my boss wasn’t at work today. And yesterday he left early. Right after you left, too.” He was calm but the way he looked at her over his beer bottle made her break out in cold sweat. “Is that so? Maybe he’s sick?”, she said, trying to maintain a cheerful tone.  
“Yeah well, I was thinking something like that until I came home to THIS!” He slammed his flat hand the table, making the glasses clink. She flinched and turned her head to the side just in case that the salt shaker was flying towards her. When nothing came she slowly opened her eyes again only to see a small white piece of paper lying where he had slammed his hand on the table. “What is that?”, she asked. Her voice was so quiet that she thought he hadn’t heard her as he didn’t answer her immediately. But when she looked in his face she could see that he had heard her and that he was fuming. “You have the audacity to ask me what this is?!”, he screamed, his face beet red. He stood up so quickly that his chair fell over and cluttered loudly on the tiles. He stormed around the table and grabbed her by the hair, slamming her face on the table. Her nose gave a sickening crunch and she could feel blood running from it, mixing with the tears from her eyes. “I don’t know what it is!”, she cried. The tears were blurring her vision so that she couldn’t read what the card said.  
“I’ll tell you then”, he said and pulled on her hair. She wanted to cry out but she bit her lip and tried so stifle the noises that wanted to escape from her, knowing how it made him even angrier.  
“Sesshoumaru Takahashi, vice president, Ryo Industries.” She sucked in a breath. “I don’t know what it is!”, she cried, plead. “And why have I found that in the pocket of your coat? Why is there a telephone number written by hand on it? Did you fuck him?!”, he screamed at her, spit spraying on her face, before he slammed her face onto the table once more, this time with her cheekbone hitting the table first so that she could look at the card he was holding next to her face. There it was, a number written with a pen in sleek handwriting, obviously a private number. He must have left it in her pocket when he left. She was so stupid. Why hadn’t she checked if he had left anything behind? “Please, Steve! I swear, I didn’t do anything! He was here this morning to talk about you and your work.” She frantically searched for a reasonable explanation. “He wanted to, wanted to… He wanted to tell me that you’ll get promoted!” “LIES!”, he blustered. “Just admit that you’re fucking him!” “I’m not! Please, Steve!”. But there was no point in trying to talk reasonably with him. “If you wanted a good fuck, you could have just asked, babe.” She could hear the smile in his voice and swallowed hard as she felt bile rise in her throat. “Please, no. Steve.” She knew what came now. It had happened often enough for her to know the program but that didn’t make it any easier. If anything it just made it worse. He dragged her up by her hair and up the stairs. She cried and plead him to let her go but he just pulled on her hair and she had no choice but to go with him if she wanted to keep her scalp. “I’ll show you something that’s gonna make you forget about Mr. Takahashi.”, he said with an evil grin on his face as he pushed her down on her knees. “Open”, he said and she reached with trembling fingers for this belt, slipping on the button as she tried to open it. “God damnit!”, he sighed, and pushed her away. She caught herself with a hand on the floor to prevent her shoulder from colliding with the wood. “Take off your clothes, now.” He stood above her, naked, with his belt in his hands. She could see his erection swinging up and down with his movements. Seeing it bob with excitement at the fear in her eyes. She slowly slid off her skirt, drawing her legs up to her body to shield her from his view. But he just laughed and grabbed her blouse, ripping the buttons as the pulled it off her shoulders. “Come on, sweetie. Why so shy?”, he grinned, excitement reflecting in his eyes. He made her take off her underwear as well and as she sat there, shivering with fear, she could see a tiny bead of precum coming out of his tip. She wanted to throw up but she couldn’t move. Couldn’t avert her gaze and just stared up at him in fear. 

“On all fours”, he said calmly. “Please.” She did as she was told, trying to let her mind wander to another place. Somewhere nice. Maybe the zoo in Tokyo that she went to with mum every year for her birthday when she was a kid. Or the - WHAM! The belt had been swung at her rear, leaving a stinging pain that she knew would be bright red today and dark blue tomorrow. ‘The zoo, the zoo.’, she thought. ‘There were elephants’ Wham! Another blow hit her and tears fell to the floor. She couldn’t concentrate on the animals. All she could do was wait for the next strike. She knew that would make it only worse but she couldn’t do anything to keep her mind off it. After two more strikes she could hear the buckle clatter on the floor. She was relieved that the hitting would stop now but that feeling didn’t last long as she heard him drop to his knees behind her and felt him enter her with one brutal thrust. She couldn’t keep the scream in as a feeling like a burning knife cut through her. He grunted loudly and grabbed her hips, drawing back and slamming back in. She could feel her knees scrape over the floor and thought that she wouldn’t be able to wear dresses for the next three weeks. She almost let out a laugh at her ridiculously unimportant thought but that laugh got caught in her throat as he withdrew from her and punched her in the ribs so that she rolled over.  
He was hovering now over her, trailing kisses from her neck to her breasts as if he was softly caressing his lover. But there was nothing soft about it. As he pounded into her again, he bit down on her breast making her cry out in pain. She didn’t know how long it lasted but when his hips suddenly stuttered and he rolled over she felt as if it had lasted for hours. He left her there on the floor between the stairs and the bedroom and she prayed that she would fall asleep quickly so that she didn’t have to think or feel any more.  
When she woke up it was still dark outside and she rolled over to go back to sleep but a sticky feeling on her things and a sharp pain from between her legs made her wince. She got up and could feel something drip to the floor. She couldn’t tell what exactly it was but she didn’t want to know so she tiptoed to the bathroom and wet a rag with warm water and began to slowly clean herself. It hurt like hell but she couldn’t stand the feeling of him on her - in her. She wanted to take a shower, a hot, long shower but she didn’t dare risk waking Steve up so she continued to sweep the rag back and forth, up and down her body. She also mopped the piece of floor where she had been lying and went downstairs to put on the yellow hoodie that she had worn this morning and was still hanging on the coat rack.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We're going deeper into the rabbit hole and Sesshoumaru is coming with us, if he wants it or not.
> 
> This chapter is going to be very dark again so please, do not read if you are not in a good place right now.

He hadn’t been able to find sleep that night. After that horrible disaster of a conversation he felt like he had destroyed every bit of faith she could ever have in him. His emotions made him toss around in his bed, his anger about his helplessness let him throw his pillows around the room, shattering his bedside lamp and breaking a framed photo and his worry for her made him sick to his stomach - he had only wanted to help her! Those big brown eyes, filled with shame and fear, had begged him to do something.  
After she had asked him to leave he had put his business card in her coat by the door, hoping she would give him a call when she would find the courage to seek help. That call had not come yet and he wondered if it had been a mistake, if he had appeared intrusive. At two o’clock in the morning he had jumped out of bed, had grabbed his phone and had already dialled 9 and 1 when suddenly another thought hit him: had he misread the signs? Was he interpreting something into this situation just because her husband was an asshole that liked to throw a temper tantrum and because she had somehow captured his mind and - maybe - even his heart? Couples fought all the times, she could have gotten those bruises somewhere else. Maybe she did martial arts in her free time?  
“Don’t be stupid”, he had said to himself.  
Of course she wasn’t doing martial arts. One does not act like a deer caught in headlights when one does a sport like this. He had sighed and had thrown the phone back on his bed where it had landed with a soft thud. There was really no point in calling the cops at this ungodly hour just because he thought he might know that Kagome Ryo was being abused by her husband.  
It was now sometime after dawn and the first rays of sunshine ripped him out of his thoughts. He had to do something! He wasn’t sure what exactly but he couldn’t sit around. He used to be a lord, god damnit! He had had the responsibility to take care of problems then and he still had it now.  
As he made his way to the shower he took a decision: he would visit Kagome again but this time, he would see through her excuses and he would find a way to help her. But first he had to get him out of the house. It was Saturday and he sure needed a good excuse to have him called into the office. In moments like these he was glad that he had been married to his work for decades and that all social events he had ever attended had been networking events with important people. Therefore, it only took him about 15 minutes to convince an old friend to fake a big deal his company was planning that required the immediate attendance of the head of sales. 

\-----

Kagome woke to the sound of a telephone ringing. She moaned and turned to her other side, trying to ignore the shrill sound in her ears and the pulsating pain that was the rest of her body. For a moment it seemed to have worked and she sighed blissfully as the ringing subsided only to have it return a few seconds later, louder than before.  
She groaned internally and opened her eyes. The digital clock on the oven told her that it was 8:32 am and she wondered who would call at this time on a saturday. Before she could get up to take the call however, the ringing abruptly stopped and she could hear Steve talking. He must have taken the call from the telephone that was upstairs. She couldn’t hear what he was saying but as she heard him open the door and run into the bathroom while cursing under his breath she quickly jumped from the couch she had been sleeping on and ran over to the kitchen to make coffee and some toast. She didn’t know what was going on but it seemed as if Steve was about to leave the house and she wouldn’t be stupid enough to meet him in a mood like that without having at least breakfast ready to offer as a sacrifice.

He came downstairs 4 minutes later, hair still wet and his shirt half unbuttoned but his mood had apparently improved greatly since the phone call. “Good morning!”, he said, grabbing the cup of coffee she was holding in his direction and even gave her a kiss on the cheek.  
That hurt, since her face was almost completely bruised from yesterday but she refrained from flinching away and busied herself with wiping down the spotless counter.  
“Work needs me, unexpected deal just came in - big fish apparently. I don’t know when I’ll be home but don’t wait up! Have a good day, love.”, he said happily before downing his coffee. “Oh, and I wanted to apologise for yesterday. I love you, you know that, right?” he said, grabbing his coat and out the door he was.

Kagome let out a breath she hadn’t realised she was holding in and let the last 10 minutes replay in her head. He had been in a good mood, he hadn’t screamed at her about the mess in the dining room or her messy appearance. He had also kissed her on the cheek. 

He had been the man she fell in love with for a moment again.

She could have it worse, right? She had a house to live in, she didn’t have to work or worry about money and she had a good-looking husband. Deep down, she knew that he loved her. His temperament just got the better of him from time to time. Humming quietly to herself, she began to clean up yesterday’s traces in the living room and thought about what to cook for dinner. Once she had cleared the plates though, her eyes caught something that was neither cutlery nor table decorations - it was the little white card that Steve’s boss had left in her coat. She picked it up. “Sesshoumaru”, she murmured to herself, liking the sound of his name. Then suddenly, it all came crashing back: his visit, the concern in his voice, dinner, how Steve had accused her of fucking with him, Steve beating her and -. She had started to back away from the table and had bumped into the big mirror by the front door and as she turned around she couldn’t believe her eyes:  
The woman that usually greeted her from the other side of the reflective glass was no longer there. Instead, a pair of big brown eyes looked back at her, eyes in a face that was more blue and green than skin coloured. A trail of dried blood stuck to her upper lip and the violet bruise from her cheek faded into the angry red marks on her throat. Slowly, she pushed the jumper she was wearing from her shoulders, turned around and a silent ‘oh’ fell from her lips as she saw her backside. Welts in red and blue reached from her hips down to her thighs, where hand shaped bruises marked the flesh he had grabbed before he-.  
The ring of the doorbell made her jump with fear and she quickly ripped the jumper up her body again, hugging herself tightly as if she expected the next blow to come.  
But it never came. Instead she heard a muffled “Hello? Kagome, are you there?” Her eyes widened in shock - it was Sesshoumaru who was standing in front of the door, asking to be let in. Her gaze fell back to the mirror. “Kagome please, I can see you standing right behind the door I just came to talk. I’m sorry if I scared you yesterday, I didn’t mean it!”

Her mind raced. She didn’t want him to leave, but he had to. He couldn’t see her like this! What if Steve found out again? But Steve was at work. But she was also so bad at hiding things from him! She thought back when he had been so happy this morning. She didn’t want to spoil the morning that had started so peaceful. But she also had a feeling that he wouldn’t take no for answer and sleep in front if the door if necessary and she certainly didn’t want Steve to him there.  
“Um, yes! I-I-I, just give me a minute ok? I just came out of the shower”, she shouted through the door, racing towards the bedroom to find something to cover herself with. In record time she had found a pair of leggins that covered her legs completely but weren’t uncomfortably tight between her legs and a turtleneck sweater that reached all the way up to her jaw. She then ran into the bathroom and tried to hide her bruised under eyes and cheek with what felt like a ton of concealer before she quickly brushed through her hair while running down the stairs again.

\-----

Outside, Sesshoumaru became more nervous by the minute. When Lou had called to confirm that ‘the eagle had landed’, he had raced over to her only to be kept waiting outside the door. He didn’t like this new side to him. Never before had he cared about a woman like that - much less a married woman! Why did he even care? But then again, he couldn’t get her out of his mind and he suddenly had to think back to his childhood when he had had a terrible dispute with his father about his plan to leave for a unnecessary fight that had ultimately resulted in his death. His father had looked at him with the golden eyes that he had inherited and had said:”I know that this is hard to understand for you, Sesshoumaru. But the ways of the heart are fathomless and not even the most powerful of all has the strength to resist the callings of love.” He had hated his father. Hated him for leaving him, hated him for dying on him, leaving him the throne at such a young age and laying all that responsibility on his small shoulders, but mostly he hated him because he couldn’t understand the reasons why his father had chosen death against all logic. 

He was ripped out of his thoughts when the front door opened and Kagome appeared in the doorframe, looking terribly skinny and strangely pale. “Is everything - “ but he stopped mid-sentence, feeling stupid about asking her if everything was ok. “Can I come in?”, he said instead, hoping she wouldn’t refuse. She didn’t look him directly in the eyes but sighed quietly and took a step back to make room for him to come in.  
“Can I get you anything? Tea? Coffee?” But before he could even open his mouth she had already put the kettle on. They stood there in silence for a few minutes until the water was boiling. He didn’t know how to start and didn’t want to blow it like last time and to his surprise she beat him to it. “So, what can I do for you?”

“I wanted to apologise for yesterday.” She flinched as if the words had hurt her but she got her face quickly under control again before she spoke: “That’s why you came all the way over here? “  
“Did you find my card? Why didn’t you call me? I would have called you myself but I had no idea how to reach you so- “, he trailed off, not knowing what he was trying to say. “ I um, I don’t have a phone”, she said quietly, not rising her eyes from the floor. He just looked at her, then at the telephone that was standing next to couch they sat on and back to her. She must have followed his gaze as she continued:” and Steve doesn’t like it when I use the phone. He says I’ll talk for hours and the bill would be huge and....and he checks the call records”. The last part was so quiet that even he almost didn’t hear it. “He, what? Listen, Kagome, you need to talk to me! I can’t do anything if you don’t talk to me.” He had extended his hand towards her subconsciously in a need to comfort her but the look on her face made him stop his movement.

“I studied graphic design, did you know that?” It had been a question but but the empty look in her eyes told him that it had been a rhetorical one. “It broke my mum’s heart that I had moved to the US permanently but I was so happy and when I met Steve it was as if all my dreams had come true.” A single tear ran down her face but she was smiling and he wondered if she was going to have seizure but the only thing he could do was stare at her and listen to her story.  
“He proposed to me when we were juniors in college and we got married before senior year. He bought me a big ring and the dress of my dreams and he told me that I would never have to worry about money or a job in my life and I thought that that was very sweet of him. I never finished college and when I got the internship he didn’t share my enthusiasm and every time I would talk about my day at work he would just grunt disinterested. I remember the day I confronted him about it. I was mad at him but then he just said: ‘why do you even bother? You know that I will always care for you, right?’ and again, I thought that that was so sweet and caring of him so when the company offered me a real job I declined.”

His mind was racing now. He didn’t know where to start. This was all sorts of wrong and she couldn’t see it! She was so invested in this toxic relationship, having been formed by this, this manipulative asshole for so many years. She had been stripped of her personality, her independence, everything. He wanted to say something but she had already continued her story.

“When I called my mum to tell her I wouldn’t come that christmas she was so sad but I told her that I wanted to spend christmas with my husband and just hung up. Steve and I had talked about it earlier that day and he said that didn’t want to share me with anyone, that we should have our own little christmas.  
I was sad, too that I couldn’t see my mum but I thought that Steve was right and I could still see her for my birthday next year. I haven’t called her since.” 

‘Senior year of college’, he thought. ‘That was a long time ago. Even he spoke more regularly to his mother and they had a rather sterile relationship.’  
“Kagome, I’m sorry to hear that.”, he said, reaching for her hand that rested on her thigh. He realised his mistake after it was too late. A piercing scream erupted from her throat as his fingers made contact with her thigh and she jumped off the couch, staring at him in shock. He opened his mouth to apologise again but she had already stopped screaming but instead had turned her back to him and dropped to all fours, presenting him her backside.  
“I’m sorry, love. I didn’t mean to slap your hand away.”, she said quietly and began to pull down her leggins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I already have plans for how this fic is going to end but I seriously have no idea how long it's gonna be before it comes to that. Let me know if you'd like a happy ending or not :)
> 
> Oh and if anyone could tell me how to type the o with the dash (for Sesshoumaru's name), that'd be great! :)


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My birthday and the Germany vs. South Korea match is tomorrow - I'm so excited!
> 
> Also I'm spending every free minute on writing on this story and I'm still putting off that paper...oh well!

He couldn’t believe what was happening right before his eyes but when he saw the dark blue bruises that looked a lot like whiplashes he broke out of his stupor and charged forwards. “Kagome, stop that!”, he said, his voice had a pleading tone that he hated but he couldn’t help it. “Kagome!” He grabbed her by her wrists. “Please, why are you doing this?” He didn’t know what to do so he gave into his instincts and pulled her into his lap, her back to his chest and her arms crossed in front of her, his hands still on her wrists.  
She screamed and wiggled in his lap but he hold on to her, whispering soothing things to her like a mantra. “It’s okay, Kagome. I’m here, I won’t leave you alone, you are safe. It’s okay, Kagome, I’m here, I won’t leave you alone, you are safe.” He rocked them back and forth and eventually she calmed down, her arms relaxed as tears streamed silently down her face.

He didn’t know how long he had held her but when her tears had stopped, too he slowly released her hands and she crawled out of his lap, hugging her knees with her arms.  
“I’m sorry, I just miss my mum”, she said finally.  
Glad that she didn’t seem to get another panic attack he gathered his courage and said softly:” It’s alright. Sometimes we just need someone to listen to us even if we think it’s stupid.” She contemplated what he had said and he relaxed, relieved that he was back in control over the situation.   
“Would you…”, she started but trailed off. “Yes?”, he asked giving her one his rare smiles. “Would you like something to eat? I have lasagna in the fridge.” He chuckled and she stared at him but relaxed again when she saw that it was a happy chuckle. “I’d love that.”, he said, remembering the first day he had met her and had suddenly craved home-cooked lasagna.

\----

She felt relieved that she could do something with her hands as she took the lasagna from the fridge and put in the oven to reheat it. She glanced over her shoulder and saw him look around the living room. She was strangely calm and even as it dawned to her that someone had seen her “little secret” that’s what Steve had called it when he had beaten her, leaving marks on her body. As she looked into those unusual golden eyes she somehow knew that she was safe as long as he would be with her. But he couldn’t be with her forever, she suddenly realised, and he probably didn’t want to, either. She was damaged goods, a married, skinny, uneducated girl while he was heavenly handsome, a successful businessman who could have any woman he wanted.   
“Ouch!”, she said, snapping her hand away from the oven dish that she had accidentally touched. “Are you ok?”, he said, being by side at an instant. “Let me see that, you need to hold that under cold water!” He grabbed her hand and gently pulled her over to the sink and he turned the tap on. As he held her fingers under the water rubbed soothing circles with his thumb over the back of her hand. She didn’t pull away but he could feel her tense and he felt a mixture of anger and - was it sadness? Pity maybe? - rise in his chest. Anger at the man who had done all the horrible things to her to make flinch because of the slightest movements, to make her lower her gaze to the floor at all times, trying to hide from the world, hoping to disappear from the face of the earth. He couldn’t imagine the things she had suffered from and he was an almost 1000 year old being that had lived during times war, torture and famines. He had heard the stories from soldiers, foreign and his own, about what they did to the women of the villages that they had destroyed but he had never wasted another thought about the cruelty of that deed. What impact it had on the women. It was more than a brutal act of violence. It provoked more than pain and shame as it traumatised the victim to a point where she could not live another day without thinking about the unspeakable things that had been done to her. He suddenly wished he could turn back time and punish his soldiers and every other man he had ever come across that had done such a vile thing.

But he couldn’t. So instead he focused on the woman in front of him and hoped that she would not be broken beyond repair. He could hear his father in his mind again, telling him over and over that love is something one could not explain even though it was the most mighty power, bringing even the strongest man to his knees.  
“I think my finger is fine now. Thank you.” He snapped out of his thoughts and realised that he still held her fingers under the icy water. He let go of her and she put her hand into the other to get it warm again. To his surprise she smiled at him, holding a plate of delicious lasagna in his face and he took it and walked over to the couch where he sat down.

They had eaten in peaceful silence for a while when she suddenly shot up from the couch with a hectic look in her eyes. “What is it?”, he said alarmed. He hadn’t heard anything and couldn’t tell what had scared her.   
“It’s almost noon!”, she said in a shrill voice. “I don’t know when Steve is coming back but he left so early this morning and I haven’t cleaned the house, or did the laundry, or the ironing, or the shopping! And I haven’t even thought about what I’m gonna cook for dinner! He is gonna be so mad when he comes home and all I did all day was sit around and eat lasagna with his boss!” Her eyes were wide in panic now and he could sense a panic attack coming so he quickly set down his plate and grabbed her by hands, careful not to grip her too tightly to spook her even more. “Ok calm down. He is not gonna be back before 6 pm.”, he said, trying to transfer the calm of his voice onto her. “How do you know?”, she asked, fidgeting nervously. “Because I was the one to make sure he got called in today”, he said and couldn’t stop the smirk that curled his lip. “You - what?”, she looked at him, looking like a literal deer caught in headlights. “I faked that job that came in today and bribed Lou into staying there all day to keep me up to date and give a warning should he leave.” As his words sunk in she seemed to relax significantly and he let out a long breath. 

“Kagome, you need to see a doctor.”, he said finally. 

“No!”, she took a step back. “I can’t!” 

What he didn’t know was that she had been to various doctors before. She had to change between the doctors so they wouldn’t notice her frequent visits and when she had come back one day with one of those leaflets that the nurse had put in her back with a pitiful look on her face Steve had ripped apart and had decided that she didn’t need a doctor after screaming at her for a full 20 minutes.

When she had been at the gynaecologist to get the pill, the doctor had called the police and tried to convince her to report the man that had done that to her.  
She came home 1 ½ hours later that day and had to explain to Steve why she was late. That night he had beaten her so badly that she had limped for two weeks and had never been to a doctor since.

Sesshoumaru could see in her face that she was reliving one of those horrible memories again and decided that it was probably not the best idea to go see a doctor that was close by since she would be recognised. 

“Please, calm down. You don’t have to but...but those bruises look bad and is it possible that your nose maybe broken?” He could smell the dried blood that came with every breath she let out through her nose. “I have a friend who is a doctor. She’s a veterinarian but she took a few classes in human medicine back in her first year in college. You can trust her.”

She thought about the pros and cons. She very clearly remembered what had happened last time she had gone to a doctor but her whole body still ached and she had a feeling that he was right about her nose. “She is not from here? And you’re sure she wouldn’t tell anyone about… you know?”. 

“I’m sure.”, he said. “Do you want me to call her and see if she’s free later?

She didn’t answer but she nodded her head lightly and looked at the floor again. She had a feeling that this was a bad idea but she realised that she needed someone to guide her. She hadn’t been independent since her first year of college and she didn’t exactly want to be dependent on the next person but if he wasn’t as nice as he seemed, why would he have bothered to come back for her after she hadn’t called him?

While she had been lost in her thoughts Sesshoumaru had gone next door to make a phone call, when he came back she looked up and her face showed something that wasn’t fear and for the moment, that was enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was having a hard time writing this chapter. So far I wrote everything down that came to my mind when I started this fic and I have two different endings in mind but I don't really know how to get there...
> 
> Anyways, while I'm wracking my brain I hope you enjoy the story. I still haven't decided on the ending yet so please comment if you think this story should have a happy ending or not.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Germany's out - that sucks. But I had a nice birthday and now that I don't spend time in front of the TV I have more time to continue this story :)

He helped her clean the kitchen a little before he escorted her to his car. While he was trying to find the fastest way through traffic he would look at her out of the corners of his eyes but she just sat still in her seat, looking at the buildings that flew by while fiddling with her purse. “Are you okay?”, he finally asked, not being able to bear the silence much longer. He didn’t want to force her to undergo a medical examination but if the parts of her body he had seen were anything to go by she had to see a doctor in order to make sure she didn’t have anything serious that wouldn’t heal on its own. “Yes”, she said silently not looking away from the window. “Well, we’re almost there. Just around the block”.  
When they had exited the car and came to a halt in front of two heavy glass doors she stopped in her tracks. “This is not a doctor’s office.” She simply stated but Sesshoumaru could smell the fear that coated her. “I know. I thought you might like a little more privacy and since my friend is technically not a doctor for humans we couldn’t just walk into her clinic and have you checked in between sick cats.”

“Okay, so what is this place?”

“It is where I live.” She stiffened at her words and he realised that this might not have been his best idea since she probably and for obvious reasons wasn’t keen on going into a stranger’s - and technically he was a stranger to her - apartment.  
“Here”, he said and handed her his cellphone. “911 is on speed dial. If you feel the need to call the police because you feel threatened you can do that. Does that help? I could also wait down here if you’re more comfortable with going alone.” Slowly, she reached for the phone and checked the speed dial by pressing the button and hanging up immediately after she had seen the correct number.

“I don’t want to go alone”, she said but she held onto the phone. 

He didn’t say anything but instead guided her to the elevator with a hand touching the small of her back lightly. While they waited he noticed that she had let him touch her without her starting to scream or flinch.

\----

“Sesshoumaru, can I talk to you for second?”, Katy said, peeling the rubber gloves off her hands. He gave her questioning look but followed her into the bedroom. His living room had been temporarily transformed into an examination room so the closed space of his bedroom gave them room to talk while Kagome had a minute to herself.

“I honestly haven’t seen something like this before and I have treated dogs that have lived on the streets for years. Bruised ribs, black eyes, her left arm has definitely been broken before, she has a lot of scars that could have been cuts and I also found some that look like...um...they look like scars that used to be burnmarks from cigarettes. Also, and I’m not a professional in this area, but it doesn’t take a gynaecologist to figure out what happened to her. Regularly.”

“Will she heal?”, he simply asked, barely containing his rage.

“She has no life threatening injuries and her nose is not completely broken so that should heal by itself as well, given time and careful handling.”

He let out a slow breath. feeling relieved that she would eventually heal and he didn’t have to drag her to the hospital or any other doctors. But he could feel that Katy was hiding something. She had the same nervous look to her eyes and the racing heartbeat that she had had the same day when they had been back in college and she had tried to convince her boyfriend that she hadn’t been out without him when in reality she had been taking body shots off half the fraternity two nights ago.

“What are you not telling me. Spill it”, he demanded while mentally readying himself for the worst of news even though he could not imagine what thing could be worse than the injuries she had but not life threatening.

“I um, well…” She was plucking invisible pieces of lint off her coat while she tried not to meet his eyes. He let out an unsettling growl and grabbed her by the jaw, forcing her to look him into the eyes. 

“What. Are. You. Not. Telling. Me?”, he said calmly but visibly shaking with rage and almost fearful anticipation.

“She...Sesshoumaru, she is pregnant. A few weeks max but still...definitely pregnant.”

\----

Katy had left about an hour ago but Sesshoumaru still sat on his couch and stared at a speck of light that fell in through one of the large windows. While his face showed the stoic, impassive mask that he had perfected for centuries his mind raced and turned while he skimmed through all the possible solutions to this situation while also contemplating the eventual consequences of those solutions. 

Meanwhile Kagome was oblivious to the turmoil that was going on in Sesshoumaru’s head. She was going to have a baby! She had had a suspicion once or twice but always dismissed it as imagination. She had already forgotten about her bruised ribs and was absentmindedly stroking her still flat stomach, wondering when she would show. She could suddenly feel his gaze shift from the wall to herself and looked up to meet his eyes. His face didn’t show any signs of emotion but she could read in his eyes that he wasn’t sure how to proceed. A strange mixture of fear and disappointment crashed over her. Fear because if not even Sesshoumaru was sure about the next move then she should probably be worried, too. To be honest she had stopped thinking about everything else as soon as that woman had told her about her pregnancy. But she also felt disappointment because clearly he wasn’t half as excited as she was. Of course, he was not going to be a father but couldn’t he be happy for her? She always wanted to be a mother and she never thought that that wish would ever be granted. She had talked to Steve about having a baby once but he hadn’t even wanted to talk about the topic.  
Then it dawned on her: Steve didn’t want a baby! But as it was now he was going to have one whether he wanted one or not. That’s how pregnancies worked. 

He heard her heartbeat and breathing pick up speed and raised from the couch for the first time in the last hour. 

“Is something wrong? Are you in pain?”, he immediately asked, scanning her for injuries. As he couldn’t find any - apart from the old ones - he relaxed his stance and let his arms drop his sides. He had just opened his mouth to say something as she suddenly launched herself towards him, slinging her arms around his waist and started sobbing into his chest. Taken by surprise he froze for a second before he bent his head to rest his chin on top of her head and enclosed her in his arms, letting her cry for as long as she needed to. 

As her sobs finally subsided he dared to lift his nose out of her fantastic smelling hair and held her at an arm’s length to look at her face. It was red and puffy and she had a desperation in her eyes that made him wonder if the strange tightness in his chest could be what humans called sadness. “I know someone who can….handle this situation”, he said, his voice low and calm. “Nobody has to ever know it and -” but that was about how far he came as her sad big eyes suddenly turned into an angry stare, her brows furrowed and her fists clenching, punching his chest. “How. Dare. You. Even. Propose. Such. A. Horrible. Thing?!”, she screeched while using him as a punching bag. He sucked in a breath and grabbed her wrists to prevent her from hurting herself. He had completely misinterpreted the situation and now tried to do as much damage control as possible. “I’m sorry! Okay? I’m sorry, I just thought-”. 

“Well, you thought wrong!”, she snapped, struggling to free her wrists from his grip.

“Let’s get you back home then. It’s gotten late and I’m not sure how long Lou will be able to keep your husband occupied for.” He put a disgusted emphasis on the word, trying to get his point across without having to say it out loud directly.

\----

The ride back home had been in silence and she felt uncomfortable with it. Sesshoumaru had been so nice to her, caring even. But when she had said that she was going to keep the baby he had returned to the man she had seen in her husband’s office: cold and indifferent.  
He had stopped in front of the driveway and when she had thanked him and had said goodbye he had only kept his gaze locked on the windshield and had driven off before she had even reached the front door. Now she was alone again, well technically she wasn’t alone, she thought with a smile, but nevertheless, the next few months she had to face on her own. 

Steve came home about half an hour later. She had used that time to shower and get the cooking started and she hoped that he was in a good mood. They ate peacefully and he talked about work all day how the job that came in was super important and everyone had been completely overwhelmed but he had handled the situation - obviously. She nodded and made an interested face and when he finally stopped to put food in this mouth she saw the opportunity and took it.

“I’m pregnant, Steve. We’re having a baby.”, she blurted out, a wide grin on her face. He choked on his bite and had a coughing fit but eventually choked out:”What?”

“We’re going to have a baby”, she repeated, her smile starting to falter. “Are you not happy?” 

“How do you know?”, he asked. 

She figured it would be better if she’d bend the truth a little:” A woman just knows. There are also signs, you know.” “Of course I know!”, he said quickly, not wanting to deepen the topic about the way a woman’s body worked. 

He reached for the napkin and wiped his mouth, then he put it down and took a sip of water and eventually he said:” Well, you should probably rest then. Let me do the dishes.” She stared at him with her mouth agape but when he said:” What are you waiting for?” She laughed and hugged him. “I knew you would be happy. I love you!”

She still couldn’t believe how well that had gone when she lay in her bed that night. She was euphoric with the thought that Steve had been happy about the news and she thought that Sesshoumaru had completely overreacted before she rolled over and went to sleep.


	9. Chapter 9

The next day she woke to the smell of coffee and scrambled eggs and silently wondered, when she would get morning sickness. But for know she crawled out of bed and downstairs and couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw Steve sitting at the kitchen table which was loaded with breakfast. 

“Good morning. Did you sleep well?”, he said, looking up from his newspaper. “Hmm”, she hummed, grabbing a cup of coffee and a piece of toast. 

“Honey, I’ve been thinking I could work a little overtime over the next month so that we have some savings when the baby comes and I could maybe even take some time off work?”, he said, looking at her expectantly. 

“Oh, really? That sounds like a good plan”, she said while helping herself to a large serving of scrambled eggs.

“So it’s okay that I’m gonna be away a lot? I don’t want you to worry”

“I’ll be fine!”

\----

It had been weeks since the day he had taken her to Katy. Weeks since she had announced her pregnancy. And it had been weeks since he had last seen or spoken to her.

At first he had been worried about her, not being able to sleep or eat and he hated himself for being so weak. He had tried to call her several times but when he had dialled the number he’d hung up immediately, worrying about the consequences if Steve would have picked up the phone. She hadn’t called him either. Nor had she contacted Katy and he prayed to a god he didn’t even believe in that she would at least see any doctor.

Then, he had been angry. Angry at himself that he couldn’t do a damn thing. Angry at her that she couldn’t or didn’t want to see what danger she was in and anger at the injustice of fate. Why had a woman like her ended up with a man like him? And why did fate decide to give her a baby from this big pile of -. It had been approximately two weeks since they had last spoken when he noticed a different female scent on him, two days later another. It didn’t take a lot of brain to understand that he had found a way to keep himself entertained while his wife was growing a baby. It almost made him vomit in his bin. He had been really close to confronting him about it - growl suppressing, goose-stepping in the direction of his office close - when he had realised that he could beat him up all that he wanted but it wouldn’t change a thing.

But even his anger had faded eventually and now he was just in a bad mood. He barked at his employees and once at his boss, he snarled at the barista that wasn’t working fast enough and he had put his fist through his table when one of his calculations didn’t work out. By then everyone was looking at the floor and whispering to each other, quickly fleeing along the hallway when he came into view. 

He hated being powerless.

\----

It had been the happiest weeks of her life. Steve was away at work a lot but when he came home he was in a brilliant mood and she could go about her day and plan her future. In addition to his overtime he had also picked up some of the housework and even though she had to clean the spots he had cleaned again she appreciated it greatly and hummed songs she reminded from her childhood.

It was a Tuesday afternoon when she woke up from a nap because her stomach was growling. Hungry, she went into the kitchen to have a look at the fridge contents. As she opened the door her gaze fell to a plate with Sheperd’s Pie and cheered internally. It had a little note on it:”Thought you might get hungry so I left you a little something. S.” Greedily she ate the whole portion as quickly as she could and then flopped back on couch, rubbing her stomach contentedly. She still didn’t show but she did show various signs of a pregnancy: she had gained a little weight as her hips became wider and her breasts a little fuller, she had to pee constantly and she slept a lot. Why was she so tired all the time? But she had borrowed a book from the library and so far she was showing all normal signs of a beginning pregnancy.

After having eaten a full meal all she wanted to do was go back to sleep but knowing that she wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if she took a second nap now she instead cleaned the house a little and baked cookies. 

\----

It was about 2 am when she woke, suddenly craving some of the cookies she had made earlier. Quietly, she pushed back the covers to avoid waking Steve and tiptoed downstairs into the kitchen. She had taken a big bite out of a cookie when suddenly she was hit by a wave of nausea. She ran to the bathroom and as silently as possible she emptied her stomach once, twice before she finally stopped cramping. Shaky from the strain she brushed her teeth and then quickly went back to bed.  
The next day she woke to an empty bed. ‘Steve must have gone to work already’, she thought, as another cramp of her stomach sent her practically flying to the bathroom. “Morning sickness sucks”, she moaned, wiping the cold sweat from her forehead. By midday she still hadn’t been able to keep any food down and the constant nausea was now accompanied by terrible cramps. She slowly started to worry as she hadn’t read anything about stomach cramps in the book and she wasn’t sure if that was normal.

She got up and went downstairs to pick up the phone. It rang and rang but never connected the call. “Damn it Steve, please answer your phone”, she muttered to herself as she dialled his number for the fourth time. Half an hour later she was still cramping and it got worse by the minute. She had called Steve 17 times but hadn’t reached him.  
She was close to a panic attack by now. What if something was wrong with the baby? She wanted to call 911 but then she stilled. What if she was wrong and she had just eaten too many cookies and made a fuss about nothing? She couldn’t just go to the hospital either. It was too far to walk and even if she had a car she wasn’t sure if she remembered how to drive. Steve never let her drive.

She was rolling around on the rug in the bathroom now, not knowing how to cope with the pain. She couldn’t even throw up anymore because her stomach was so empty. In her panic she knew only one last possibility.

\----

The constant buzzing of his phone was really going on his nerves. He normally got some mails and calls throughout the day but it seemed as if it had been buzzing for the last 30 minutes straight.  
Growling, he pried that damn thing from his pocket and barked:”What?!” into it. When he heard a small and obviously pain shaken voice from the other end of the line he dropped everything and sprinted to the car.

He had passed at least 3 red stop lights and sped through the city, passing cars in a zigzag motion which earned him a lot of honking and some middle fingers. He didn’t care.  
With screeching tired he came to a halt in front of Kagome’s door, slammed the front door open and found her upstairs in the bathroom, pale and drenched in cold sweat. She looked up at him as if he was Jesus in the flesh, ready to come and save her - or finally put her out of her misery. He didn’t hesitate and scooped her up in his arms, worried at the weak hold she had around his neck.  
He carefully put her in the back of his car and tried to fasten a seatbelt around her before he got back into the driver seat and drove off towards the hospital - a little slower and more careful this time.

“Help!”, he called, carrying her into one of the long, white hallways in the direction of the E.R. “Sir, what’s the problem?”, a middle-aged, corpulent woman with a dark ponytail asked, already touching Kagome’s stomach with skilled hands.  
“I don’t know, she has really bad stomach cramps and she was sick earlier.” “Okay Sir, I understand but I need you to put her down and step back.”  
“Ma’am, do you have any allergies? Is it possible that you might be pregnant?”, the nurse asked the standard questions in a calm voice, a concerned look on her face.  
“Yes!”, Sesshoumaru practically shouted. “She is pregnant!”.

“Week?”

“Excuse me?”

“Which week of the pregnancy is she in?”

“How would I know”, he said. “I’m not-” 

“Alright love, I need you to go then. We’ll take care of her but I can’t work properly with you in my way.”

He had opened his mouth to put that woman in her place when he looked into Kagome’s face and the pain in her face let him step back and do the nurse do her work. “Stay.”, Kagome whispered, clutching his hand. “Don’t worry. I won’t go anywhere. Just get better, I’ll wait.”, he said. Looking after her as she was rolled down the hallway surrounded by two other nurses and a doctor who shouted numbers and words at each other that made no sense to him. When she was out of view he returned the way he came, parked his car properly and sat down in the waiting area.

\----

Beep. Silence. Beep. Silence. Beep. She woke to the nerve wracking sound of a heart rate monitor and blinked against the harsh light. It took her a little while but when she saw the sterile accommodation she was in and the needle in her arm she realised that she must be in a hospital. The memories came crashing in - the cramps, the pain, was her baby okay? “Sess-” “I’m here”, his calm voice came from the other side of her bed. She turned her head slowly, looking into his beautiful face and almost cried with relief that she wasn’t alone. His hand found hers and he pressed his cool, smooth, long fingers around her small warm hand. “You’re okay. The baby as well.”, he said quietly, his voice trembling.  
She let out a long sigh and relaxed back into her pillow.  
“Kagome, there’s something-”, but he couldn’t finish his sentence as a doctor followed by two nurses came into the room. “Well, how are we feeling?”, the doctor said in a cheery voice, her eyes sticking to the markings on his face for a second before she returned her gaze to Kagome. “Better.”, she said and his heart felt lighter at once when he saw her smile. Quickly he let the cold mask return to his face. There were too many people around him to let his emotions slide.  
“Would you mind giving us some privacy?”, the doctor said to him, her voice suddenly icy. “I would, actually.”, he coldly replied and before she could say something Kagome intervened:”He can stay.”  
Shooting her a questioning glance the doctor sighed and chose to ignore Sesshoumaru. “Okay so the good news first: you’re getting better every minute and your baby is doing fine. However, - “, she shot an icy glare to Sesshoumaru:”Our examinations have shown a very high concentration of cytotec in your system.”  
Kagome looked at her, obviously not comprehending what she was told. “It’s a common agent in abortion pills, Ma’am. Have you tried to abort your baby?” Her tone was professional but the look in her eyes told the judging truth.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it! The story is done. The next chapter is going to be a little sequel so Thank you for reading my story and leaving kudos and/or comments. After this fic I'm gonna go and write some fluffy and smutty things to lighten my mood so stay tuned for that!
> 
> I hope you enjoyed reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it.

“What? No! Never, I would never-....Why was there…?” But she didn’t finish her sentence and instead looked to Sesshoumaru staring through him. “The Sheperd’s Pie”, she whispered more to herself than out loud. “Did he…?”  
She squeezed his hand tightly and a few silent tears ran from her eyes. 

Sesshoumaru was completely occupied with not tearing down everything and everyone in his way from here to that shitbag. His hands trembled with suppressed anger and he could feel his eyes bleed into a slight pink before he could regain control over his beast. He had smelled something on her that didn’t fit her usual scent but hadn’t been able to place it - until now. The realisation that Kagome had been fed abortion pills without her knowledge was a deed so cruel not even he could imagine it. Stripping a woman of her unborn child - whether he liked whose child it was or not - was despicable and unforgivable. Apparently, he wanted to make sure his plan worked out since she had overdosed so drastically that it could have poisoned her. The doctor had explained that intense cramps were a usual by-product of that drug but if one would take an overdose...it had been just in time when they had arrived at the hospital.

The medical staff had left to give them some privacy but he could hear them standing outside discussing the course of events and what his role was in all of this. He chose to ignore them not deeming them worthy of an explanation. Instead he turned to Kagome and softly wiped away her tears with his thumb while his other hand was still holding hers.

“Kagome.”, he said softly what drew her attention to him. “Do you want to go home?” But she couldn’t answer. Her scent screamed all of her emotions in his face: fear, betrayal, anger, sadness...love?  
He would have thought he had made a mistake when identifying the scents that clouded his nose but he - Sesshoumaru - never made a mistake when it came to his skills. And that included his sense of smell. How could she still feel love? For the baby possibly, he thought, although he could and probably would never understand the binding between a woman and her unborn child.  
“Come on, let’s get you out of here.”, he said, helping her into the clothes she had worn before she had been admitted. The sight of her bruised body made him feel revulsion - revulsion at the man who had done that to her. Although, he had to admit, the bruises were all of a light yellow colour so instead of beating her he had apparently saved his strength and went for poisoning instead. It made him shudder with rage.  
When she was fully dressed he pushed her down the hallway in a wheelchair towards the exit not paying attention to the stares of the people around him. 

When they were in his car, he asked again:”Do you want to go home?”. This time she looked at him but she still didn’t say anything. Instead, she just shook her head and he was at a loss for what to do now.  
“Can I maybe stay at your place for a while”, she said quietly, not meeting his eyes.  
He just nodded and started the car.

When they arrived at the building where his apartment was in she got out of the car and let him guide her to the elevator and through the door into his bedroom. “Sit.”, he said, pointing to the bed. “You need to rest so go and get some sleep, I’ll be next door if you need anything.” She smiled weakly and sat down on the bed, leaning back into the soft pillows and let out a sigh. It was a very luxurious bed with a thick mattress and a warm duvet and lots of pillows. Not that he slept much but if he did he enjoyed the comforts of modern beds immensely.  
He pulled the duvet up to her chin and brushed lightly over her cheek before he pulled the curtains in front of the windows and closed the door. 

He decided that he could use the time while he was waiting for her to wake up again since he knew she was safe and he hoped to be able to concentrate now. With a cup of tea he sat down in front of the computer and had just started working on a report when he heard a soft calling of his name from next door. At an instant he was in his bedroom, looking around alarmed.  
“I’m sorry”, Kagome said. “I didn’t mean to startle you I was just-” she stopped talking and has a look on her face that told him she had lost the confidence to say what she wanted to say.  
“It’s okay. What is it? Are you thirsty? Do you need anything?”

Gaining confidence from the deep rumbling of his voice that had a soothing effect on her she started again:” I was wondering if I could get some clothes and my toothbrush from home? I feel dirty and I hate the hospital smell on me.” 

He relaxed at her request and got pen and paper to let her make a list of the things she needed and where he would find them since he refused to take her with him. She should stay and get some sleep while he retrieved the items.

Only 20 minutes later he arrived at her house, the list of things she needed in his pocket. He went inside and through the rooms, making sure that he wouldn’t forget anything. Even though she had made him that list and had asked him to get the things he felt like doing something forbidden as he went through her drawers to look for the clothing she needed. He had been in the house for nearly half an hour now and had almost everything packed into a bag he had found with her work out gear, when he heard the door open.

His nose told him exactly who had just entered the house even before that asshole could open his mouth to bark:” Who’s there? Get your ass out, I’ve got a gun!”. Sesshoumaru only thought about two seconds about his next move before he flexed his claws, a wicked smile forming on his face. This was going to be fun.

\----

She awoke with a start. Frantically she shot up into a seating position and looked around her before she remembered where she was. She let herself sink into the pillows again and relaxed. She was safe. Her baby was safe. She was lying in Sesshoumaru’s bed.  
Wait. What?!  
She jumped out of bed, suddenly embarrassed about the request she had made. What had she been thinking to ask him if she could stay at his place? And she had also slept in his bed! What must he think of her now? She combed through her hair with her fingers and straightened her sweatshirt before she left the bedroom. “Sesshoumaru?”, she asked hesitantly but she didn’t get an answer. She was really thirsty so she went into the kitchen to get a glass of water but then her gaze fell to the clock on the wall. She had been asleep for over an hour! Why wasn’t Sesshoumaru back by now? She grabbed the phone that stood next to the sofa and dialled his number but the call went straight to voicemail. “Oh what do I do? Should I go look for him?”, she murmured to herself when suddenly the door opened and Sesshoumaru came walking in, his head held high and proud, a very satisfied grin on his face and a lot of blood that stained his shirt. “What happened?!”, she screamed, her eyes wide open and her hands rising to cover her mouth. “Is that blood? Are you hurt?”  
He walked towards her and pressed her shoulders down to make her sit on the couch. “It’s okay, Kagome. I’m fine. This isn’t my blood.”, he said before he told her about his little encounter with Steve.

“I was almost done with packing your things when I hear the door open and Steve comes barging in, screaming that I should reveal myself and he has a gun. I walk downstairs to explain the situation when but when he sees me he starts having a fit and screams about how I dare lay hand on his wife, etc. He wouldn’t calm down and he was waving that gun around so naturally, I had to defend myself and make it very clear that you left out of free will and that I did not lay a hand on you.” He left out the part where he hadn’t really explained the situation to Steve but instead had punched every inch he could get a hold on while screaming at him how he could do such despicable acts to a wonderful woman like Kagome who deserved so much better.  
“Unfortunately, we must have made quite the noise so the neighbours called the police and they questioned us as to why we though it was a good idea to punch each other in the face. Not that he would have landed a punch in mine but I abstained from correcting them. Instead, I made clear that I had been acting solely on self defense and that I had to return back home because my bird was alone in my apartment and probably scared.” He smiled as he said that last sentence and Kagome’s mind took her back to her childhood when she was playing that game she hated because the rhyme one would sing while playing the game made fun of her name. And then her brain made the connection. Kagome - bird in a cage. She had been held captive all her life, like a bird in a cage and now that she had Sesshoumaru who took care of her, she was a free bird. The excuse had been quite fitting, she thought. She had been alone in his apartment and she had been scared but she wasn’t locked up anymore.

“I’m pretty sure he learned his lesson. I gave him two weeks off work and I - recommended - that he should use that time to have a vacation far away from here.” She could see in his eyes that it had probably been more than just a recommendation but she couldn’t care less.

Instead, she let the tears fall that had built up during the last 15 minutes and slung her arms around his neck. Tears of fear for Sesshoumaru and what could have happened to him, tears of helplessness because she didn’t know what to do and tears of joy, because he had come back for her and he had taken care of Steve that she would never have to see him again. A sudden fierceness she hadn’t felt in a really long time overcame her and she pulled back from the embrace and pressed a tender kiss to his cold lips.  
“Thank you”, she whispered as she drew away, leaving a frozen daiyoukai who could do nothing but stare at her in surprise.

\-----

It took about a week to get all her things from the house into his apartment and he could see how she became happier and happier by the hour. She had redecorated the bedroom to give it a “more feminine touch” as she had called it and he had let her. He hated to admit it but that fragile human woman had somehow managed to crack his facade and found her way into his heart. Even though she was happy now, he knew that things had to go slowly from now on. He couldn’t expect her to get over the trauma of the past years within the course of a week so he made sure to tell her how beautiful and strong she was every day and he supported her to make her own decisions.

She made one of those decisions in the second week when they were at the doctor’s office to get her checked properly for the first time. “I want you to come with me.”, she said and so he followed. He listened to the doctor explain all the things she needed to know for the rest of her pregnancy and he even took some mental notes when he himself had been addressed with tips on how the father could support the mother during this very exciting but exhausting time. None of them corrected him but instead he felt for her hand and squeezed it tightly under the table.  
It had been an easy decision for him. While Kagome turned his apartment into their apartment and left her scent on every single item he grew more and more attached to her. One evening they had sat on the couch watching TV after dinner and while he was playing with her hair that lay in his lap as Kagome liked to lay down on her side and put her head in his lap, he had said:” I’d like to be a father to your child if you’re okay with it.” And she had been okay with it. More than that actually because she rose to her knees and slung her arms around his neck, showering his face with kisses.

That had been a week ago and now he was sitting here with her by his side and watched as the doctor squeezed some kind of blue gel onto her stomach.  
“Okay, let’s see what we got here. Two arms, two legs, a strong heartbeat - everything looks fine so far!”, the doctor said in a cheerful voice while staring at the computer screen. “Oh and what do we have here? It’s - “ 

“A girl”, Sesshoumaru breathed. Awestruck at the sight of the little human being that was forming in Kagome’s belly.

Kagome started crying. She explained between hiccups that they were happy tears but Sesshoumaru still hated the view of her crying and stroked gently over her hair.

After that day he pampered her even more and insisted that it should be her primary task to grow the little girl while he could take of the rest. He had lived on his own for a long time so he could manage, he argued and she closed her mouth and put some of the food in her mouth that Sesshoumaru had just brought her.

\----

As it turned out, Kagome had to face Steve again about three months later. She was sitting in court, one hand on her growing belly and one between the hands of Sesshoumaru who was not happy with the situation. He hap hoped the divorce would be quick without a trial but Steve had refused to just sign the papers and here they were now, discussing the details of the divorce.

Kagome didn’t mind, though. She let Steve have the house, the car, everything they had owned because she didn’t need that stuff anymore and didn’t want to have it either. She had started a new life with Sesshoumaru. The only thing - if you call it a thing - she claimed for herself was the baby. Having an abusive ex-husband made the custody question easy to answer for the judge and as they signed all the paperwork to make the divorce official, she looked at Sesshoumaru and just smiled happily. “Let’s go home”, she said and stood up, not sparing a single glance to the man that sat behind her, who she had loved and who had made her life a living hell and had made her believe she deserved it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I did some research and the way abotion pills work is like this: first you take a pill that contain mifepristone that stops all pregnancy related hormones.After that you get pills that contain cytotec which will start the dispersion of the lining of the uterus (including the fetus of course). That is where menstruation-like cramps start which can be a lot worse than the regular cramps - and every female reading this knows how bad the regular cramps are.
> 
> However, if you live in a country that doesn't have access to safe abortion pills you might only get the ones woth cytotec and and an overdose of that might lead to a lot of health risks.
> 
> P.S. I couldn't find the exact symptoms of an overdose of cytotec so I don't know if the excessive throwing up is realistic.


	11. A year later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little sequel to the story to satify our all need for some peace and fluff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tiny bit of smut at the end ;)

“Sesshoumaru!” He heard Kagome calling when he was still standing on the other side of the road but he knew that she knew that he could still hear her. He made his way up the many stairs to Kagome’s old home and was welcomed with a jump to his arms by Kagome who buried her face in his neck. “I’m so glad you’re finally back. I missed you.”  
He kissed her cheek and let his free hand run up and down her back before she slid down back to her own feet.

It had been around Christmas when Sesshoumaru noticed how unhappy Kagome became. He would ask her about it but she hadn’t told him what was raining on her parade. So instead he had made it a habit to listen to her mumbling in her sleep before he went to bed and that was how he knew what was making her sad: she missed her mother.   
The next day he had, randomly of course, proposed that they could spend Christmas in Japan, if she would like that. That made her even more miserable and before Sesshoumaru could ask why she cried she had explained that she couldn’t board a plane at almost 9 months pregnant. ‘Right’, he had thought. ‘How could I forget about that?’ It had taken all evening to soothe her and when she had eventually fallen asleep he had bought tickets to Japan for the summer. 

It had been a heart-warming sight, even for him, when Kagome and her mother had fallen into each other’s arms, crying and laughing at the same time. Even her not-so-small-anymore younger brother had been there, and even he hadn’t been safe from Kagome’s hugs and tears. What had followed still put a slight smile to his face because Kagome’s mother had pulled him own into a warm hug and had whispered:” Thank you for bringing my daughter back home.” in his ear before turning back to her daughter and her first grandchild that was laughing happily while trying to touch everything and everyone that would get within her reach.

Not even a week later it had been clear that Kagome would never set a foot back on American ground and that’s why he had left her and the little Yui, who had been cuddled and kissed non-stop by her grandmother ever since they had arrived, in Japan for three weeks to go back and settle things with the office to get transferred back to Tokyo, move out of his old apartment and get their things shipped to Japan. Now he was back and he hadn’t realised how much he had missed his little family while he was gone.

He had even visited his father’s grave before he went to Kagome’s family and told him all about the wonderful human woman he had come to love and protect and the little human girl that he loved above all else and that he would raise as his own because she was - not biologically but that didn’t matter to him.

That night, Mrs. Higurashi had outdone herself with dinner and they all had eaten until not even a single bite would fit anymore. Yui had been brought to bed hours ago and now he and Kagome lay in her bed in her former room tightly nestled up against each other, simply enjoying each other’s company. “For a moment I thought you might not come back”, she whispered, clutching the front of his shirt. “Oh, Kagome”, he answered while nuzzling his nose in her hair. “Why on earth would I not come back to you? You and Yui are the center of my world. I would have no purpose in life without you two.” He loosened her grip on his shirt and pushed her chin up to meet her eyes before he pulled her up to his level and pressed a soft kiss to her lips that held all the love he felt for her in it. As he started to pull away from the kiss she slung her arms tighter around his neck and deepened the kiss, eliciting a deep growl from his throat. “Don’t start what you don’t intend to finish”, he murmured between her lips, pulling her tightly against his body. His beast, that had been sleeping for the last three weeks, suddenly awoke and demanded attention but he forced it back down, knowing that even though Kagome had been with him for a year now, the scars of her past ran deep. He had to be careful and gentle, avoid sudden movements because she would sometimes flinch when his hand moved up too quickly to cup her cheek or when he put his arms around her from behind.   
Tonight she seemed to be fine with that, though, as she lifted one leg over his hips and pulled him on top of her, giggling quietly. “Oh I do intent to finish what I start.”, she said with a mischievous smirk on her pretty face. He didn’t need any more encouragement and swiftly pushed the shirt she wore, one of his he contently noticed, up to reveal her to his gaze before he covered every last inch of her with kisses. The pregnancy had put a few extra pounds on her body and he loved them on her, making her soft and curvy in the right places.   
“Sesshoumaru”, she panted, her face flushed with a pretty pink as he pulled himself up to look her in the eyes while he settled between her thighs. “Yes, my love?”, he breathed into her neck, hovering over her, slightly shaking with pleasant anticipation.  
“I know you love Yui as if she was your own but-” “She is mine.”, he simply stated, suddenly not sure he liked where this was heading. “I know.”, she repeated, pressing a kiss to his lips. “Sesshourmaru, I want another baby.” 

His eyes widened slightly. He had expected a lot but not this. Because he didn’t say anything she continued: “I want a baby from you. A little brother or sister for Yui that hopefully gets their good looks from their father.” She winked at that statement and let out a little laugh. He was unable to put his feelings into words so instead he kissed her deeply, growling “I love you” into her ear as he pushed slowly inside her. 

\----

He lay awake for a little longer afterwards while Kagome had fallen asleep, her warm naked body pressed into his. He knew she wouldn’t be pregnant right away - it was just not the right time of the month - but he was more than happy to keep trying and while he pulled Kagome even closer to his chest he drifted away, dreaming of a nice house with a big garden where their many children were playing while Kagome was standing on the porch in his arms, watching over them.


End file.
